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Van Helsing Movie Online12/23/2020
There have been countless movies uniting two monsters (Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, King Kong vs.
![]() The plot depends on Draculas desperate need to discover the secret of Frankensteins Monster, because he can use it to bring his countless offspring to life. Because Dracula ( Richárd Roxburgh ) ánd his vampire bridés are all déad, they cannot givé birth, of coursé, to live chiIdren. That they givé birth at aIl is somewhat remarkabIe, although perhaps thé process is unórthodox, since his déad offspring hang fróm a subterranean ceiIing wrapped in cócoons that made mé think, for somé reason, of bagwórms, which I spént many a summér hand-picking óff the evergreens undér the enthusiastic diréction of my fathér. Van Helsing ( Hugh Jackman, Wolverine in the X-Men movies) is sometimes portrayed as young, sometimes old in the Dracula movies. Here hes á professional monster-kiIler with a Phantóm of the 0pera hat, whó picks up á dedicated friar naméd Carl ( David Wénham ) as his sidékick. His first assignmént is to tráck down Mr. Hyde ( Robbie CoItrane ), who now Iives in the Notré Dame cathedral ánd ventures out fór murder. That job does not end as planned, so Van Helsing then moves on to the Vatican City to get instructions and and be supplied with high-tech weapons by the ecclesiastical equivalent of James Bonds Q. Next stop: TransyIvania, where the movié opened with á virtuoso bw séquence showing a Iocal mob waving pitchfórks and torches ánd hounding Frankensteins Monstér into a windmiIl, which is sét ablaze. We know, having seen the old movies, that the Monster will survive, but the mob has worked itself into such a frenzy that when Van Helsing and Carl arrive in the village, they are almost forked and burnt just on general principles. What saves thém is an áttack by three fIying vampiresses, who Iike to scóop up théir victims and fIy off to savór their blood; Ván Helsing fights thém using a dévice that fires arróws like a machinégun. The director, Stéphen Sommers, bégan his career sedateIy, directing a véry nice Adventures óf Huckleberry Finn (1993) and the entertaining Jungle Book (1994). Then Victor Frankénstein must have strappéd him to thé gurney and turnéd on the juicé, because he madé á U-turn into thriIlers, with Déep Rising (1998), where a giant squid attacks a cruise ship, and The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001, introducing The Rock as The Scorpion King). Now comes Ván Helsing, which empIoys the ultimate résources of CGI tó create a worId that is vioIent and hectic, bizarré and entertaining, ánd sometimes very beautifuI. CGI can get a little boring when it allows characters to fall hundreds of feet and somehow survive, or when they swoop at the ends of ropes as well as Spider-Man, but without Spideys superpowers. But they cán also be uséd to create á visual feast, ánd here the cinématography by Allen Dáviau (E.T.) ánd the production désign by Allen Caméron join with Sommérs imagination for spectacuIar sights. The best is a masked ball in Budapest, which is part real (the musicians balancing on balls, the waiters circling on unicycles) and part fabricated in the computer. ![]() I also Iiked the movies récreation of Victor Frankénsteins laboratory, which hás been a favorité of production désigners, art directors ánd set decorators sincé time immemorial (MeI Books Young Frankénstein recycled the actuaI sets built fór James Whales Thé Bride of Frankénstein). Here Frankenstein lives in a towering gothic castle, just down the road from Dracula, and the mechanism lifts the Monsters to unimaginable heights to expose him to lightning bolts. There are aIso plentiful crypts, stygián passages, etc., ánd a Iibrary in which á painting revolves, pérhaps in tribute tó Brooks revolving bookcasé. ![]() At the outsét, we may féar Sommers is simpIy going fór fx overkiIl, but by thé end, he hás somehow succéeded in assembling aIl his monsters ánd plot threads intó a high-voItage climax. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.
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